Current News

Vermont Business Magazine Rutland residents will soon be able to enjoy Reimagine Depot Park thanks to a recently launched crowdfunding campaign. The campaign is sponsored by the Vermont Department of Housing and Community Development’s Better Places program and led by Come Alive Outside. If the campaign reaches its $10,000 goal by deadline of June 3rd, 2023, “Reimagine Depot Park” will receive a matching grant of $20,000 from DHCD’s Better Places program.

Vermont Business Magazine In a unanimous vote, the Vermont Senate passed VT Saves, a program championed by State Treasurer Mike Pieciak and Senate Democrats, and designed to create greater retirement security for all Vermonters. In Vermont, 45% of employers do not offer retirement benefits. For small businesses with 20 employees or less, 55% do not offer retirement benefits. However, at employers that do offer a retirement plan, over 70% of employees participate. VT Saves would automatically enroll employees into a Roth IRA at businesses not already offering a retirement savings program. This would come at no cost to businesses and with the option for employees to opt out or adjust their contribution rate.

Vermont Business Magazine Senator Peter Welch (D-VT) joined Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Mike Braun (R-IN) to reintroduce the Freedom to Invest in Tomorrow’s Workforce Act, bipartisan legislation to allow the use of ‘529’ education savings accounts for skills training, credentialing, and certification programs. Current law only permits workers and families to use ‘529’ accounts to pay for college, university, and vocational school expenses. 

Vermont Business Magazine Representative Becca Balint (D-Vermont) is cosponsoring the HR 12, the Women’s Health Protection Act. The bill creates a statutory right for health care providers to provide abortion care, and a right for their patients to receive that care, free from bans and restrictions that single out abortion and impede access. HR 12 would protect abortion access across the country, despite the Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe v. Wade.

Vermont Business Magazine Most COVID-era masking requirements and restrictions on hospital visitation will be rolled back early next week by UVM Health Network hospitals in the state of Vermont. Effective Wednesday, April 12, The University of Vermont Medical Center, Central Vermont Medical Center, and Porter Medical Center will lift masking requirements for patients and employees in public areas and return to pre-COVID hospital visitation guidelines for most clinical units where visitation restrictions were not in place before the pandemic. The UVMHN hospitals in Northern New York will continue to require masking in accordance with New York State Department of Health.

Vermont Business Magazine Average gasoline prices in Vermont rose 2 cents in the last week to $3.40 per gallon today, according to GasBuddy. Prices are down 2 cents from a month ago and down 75 cents/g from the same time last year. The cheapest price in the state is $3.05 in Middlebury and the most expensive is $3.55 in Northfield. The state average continues to be lower than the national average. The national average price of gasoline has risen 4 cents per gallon in the last week, averaging $3.53/g today.

Vermont Business Magazine Teucrium Trading, LLC, the Sponsor of commodity futures-based ETFs, announced that the Teucrium AiLA Long-Short Base Metals Strategy ETF began trading on the New York Stock Exchange Wednesday under the ticker OAIB. The Fund seeks to track the AiLA-S022 index, a strategy holding both long and short positions in base metals futures contracts listed on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) and the London Metals Exchange (LME). OAIB allows investors to access a sophisticated, long-short strategy through a passively managed, liquid, and tax efficient fund. The Fund will hold both long and short positions in aluminum, copper, lead, nickel, tin, and zinc, according to the AiLA-S022 index. The Index is powered by OPALai’s AI-driven technology and data analytics. Teucrium has historically focused exclusively on agricultural markets. OAIB is Teucrium’s first non-agricultural offering.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Fish and Wildlife Board voted on April 5 to have 80 either-sex moose hunting permits and 100 antlerless moose hunting permits available this year for a hunt limited to Vermont’s Wildlife Management Unit (WMU) E in the northeastern corner of the state. The science-based hunt will result in an estimated harvest of about 100 moose, or 10 percent of the more than 1,000 moose currently estimated to live in WMU E. Permit applications are now available on the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department’s website. The goal of the department’s 2023 moose harvest recommendation is to improve the health of moose in WMU-E by reducing the number of moose and thereby reducing the abundance and impact of winter ticks.

Vermont Business Magazine Hiking Vermont’s hillsides is a great way to enjoy a spring day, but the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department and Audubon Vermont recommend people check to see if the area they are planning to hike or climb is open. In addition to the many trails that are currently closed to reduce impacts during mud season, several cliff areas are closed to protect nesting peregrine falcons. Biologists and community scientists are just now identifying which cliffs are occupied by peregrines this year, and not all sites have been visited to-date. Once closed, these sites will remain closed until August 1 or until Fish and Wildlife determines the risk to nesting falcons has passed.

Vermont Business Magazine Despite the late arrival of winter to Vermont, the Vermont Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation (FPR) wants to remind the public that mud season is here and many trails around the state are closed. During mud season, which can run until Memorial Day in upper elevations, hiking and biking trails are extremely wet and muddy due to the combined effects of snow melt, thawing ground, and seasonal rain. We ask the public to avoid muddy, soft trails to protect sensitive vegetation and ensure trails are in good shape for the upcoming hiking and biking season.